F-16 fighter jets intercept small plane as Obama leaves LA

Published May 11. 2012 5:00PM

Updated May 11. 2012 5:30PM

Associated Press

Publication: theday.com

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two F-16 fighter jets intercepted a small private plane that violated restricted airspace Friday as President Barack Obama was about to depart from Los Angeles International Airport aboard Air Force One, authorities said.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled the two jets that intercepted the Piper 28 aircraft over northeast Los Angeles at approximately 9:45 a.m. PDT, and followed it until it landed about five minutes later and was met by local law enforcement, NORAD said in a statement.

El Monte police Lt. Dan Burlingham said the Piper landed at the city's small airport about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, and the pilot was detained until Secret Service agents took the pilot into custody.

"It appears, as far as we know, that it was just a mistake," Burlingham said. No one else was aboard the plane, he said.

NORAD spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Bill Lewis in Colorado declined to say where the F-16s were based.

"They post up these flight restrictions and NORAD's responsibility is to enforce them," he said. "If the aircraft is unresponsive or wanders into restricted airspace, we have a set of procedures to follow."

Obama departed from Los Angeles the morning after a fundraising visit where he raised $15 million — a record for a single fundraiser — at a dinner with some 150 Hollywood donors at the home of George Clooney.

A similar scenario occurred at the end of an Obama LA visit on Feb. 16, when F-16 jets intercepted a plane that entered the airspace of Obama's helicopter, Marine One.

That plane was forced to land at Long Beach Airport, where police said they found about 40 pounds of marijuana during a search of the Cessna, and the pilot was arrested.